YOUR CART

You walk up the hill from the carpark towards the cathedral, you and all of the others emerging from all corners into the square. You’re all arriving in fits and starts, two here, three there, and you feel alone arriving by yourself until you see them in the cafe, until they see you, until she walks across to hug you. The hug last forever, because neither of you want to be the one to end it: if you end it, maybe it will be real. Maybe you will actually be here for the funeral.More

It turns out that you can stare at a blank page for far longer than you thought. Because the alternative is writing this, and if you write it then it must be true. If you don’t write it, does that mean it didn’t happen? Have a drink and start. You know that’s it’s true, as much as you want to believe that it’s not.

It's bullshit, of course it is, but realistically what could they do? The weather gave the organisers no choice but to call off the stage, and the need for a result of some sort meant rolling back to the last time zone, but no one was racing to that spot and the result, such as it is, could probably satisfy nobody but one man alone, the man who was handed the overall win on a plate. More

The final week is here, and have we ever had as exciting a Tour as this one has been? Not as I can recall, and I do spend a bit of time thinking about this sort of thing. At the second rest day there are 6 riders from 5 teams in with a genuine chance of being crowned champion next Sunday, and no one predicted that at the start of the whole thing.More

So it’s time for the Tour once again, and if it’s been a somewhat underwhelming build up given the injuries to the presumed favourites it’s still the bloody Tour, right? Once it kicks in we’ll all be hooked once again. Here’s a quick start list with a few comments of mine: feel free to add yours below.More

It’s strangely difficult to go back to something you’ve done at length after a break away: everything is innately familiar but only as it occurs, like recognising a song that you used to adore after a minute, rather than on hearing the opening bars as you used to when it spoke to your soul. Continue

I guess it’s the nature of final races that people leave: it’s the end of the season, the natural place to move or make a break, and when I was looking in my inbox for an email just now one popped up from 2007, written by a different communications chief for a differently named series, addressed to some teams that no longer exist, tyre suppliers who no longer do, people who’ve gone on to F1 or off to retirement (or both), but enclosing the same sort of media schedule as we still use. The more things change. Continue

Normally the final weekend of a season goes 1 of 2 ways: either the championship is going down to the wire and everything is pointing to the battle to come, or it’s already decided and everyone can let their hair down, have a free weekend of fun and just race for the sake it. But this weekend in Abu Dhabi was something different: the drivers’ title was already decided but there was still a fight for P2, as well as the teams’ championship to settle. Which made the weekend a little … complex. Continue

I’ll admit, when we were first talking about a standalone race I thought it would be great: none of those F1 types filling the planes and hotels, we get to work in the big paddock and have more space for everything, we might even get to stay at the fancy circuit hotel for once. What’s not to like? Continue

For Charles Leclerc, Monza was a bit of a disaster: if it didn’t quite have the emotional resonance of Monaco, he was telling everyone who would listen in Jerez that Monza was a weekend to learn from and put behind him while he worked on getting back to business. That his main rival also failed to score points there didn’t enter into the equation for the Monegasque driver: he was determined to make up for the problematic weekend in the only way he knew, by getting back to winning ways. Continue

I know, I didn’t write a blog for Spa, but here’s the thing: when on earth could I have done it? I couldn’t write it beforehand, obviously, and we were in Belgium from Wednesday to Sunday and then back home to start the Insider. So, writing Sunday night, all Monday and most of Tuesday, and then on a plane on Wednesday again to go to Monza. Oh, and there was that pesky car launch: that filled up any time left over, and then some. Continue

Coming fresh on the heels of Spa, the teams were probably hoping for a drama-free race weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, but if that was the case they had come to the wrong place: Italians are addicted to drama, particularly in racing, and it’s simply impossible to think of a weekend passing without comment at their national circuit. Continue

The weather is the biggest question at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps; it always rains at some time over a race weekend at the fabled Belgian track, so the teams spend much of their time there wondering whether the rain will arrive while they’re on the circuit or not. Continue

He was just everywhere for a while: it was impossible to escape Moby for a couple of years, and it didn’t help that he sold the rights to every song on this album for commercials. Everyone’s got to make a living, I guess. Continue

I’m not sure what got me into Lamb: I’d say James, but back then it probably would have offended his sense of drum and bass purity to have a girl singing live in front of it, or that it meant they were a pop band, or something. But what an amazing racket they made (and still do: I saw them last year at Roundhouse with Laura, and they were still amazing live). Continue

I’ve loved this song since the very first time I heard it, for the complete kitchen sink ordinariness of it before the explosion of a chorus, the aural equivalent of that moment when you look at your long-term partner in the middle of the coffee shop as they’re talking about what to have for dinner that night and you remember oh fuck I really love you and your heart skips a beat at the thought, until the guy behind the counter calls your names to collect the coffee. Continue